Update. Early January I received an update I couldn't believe: "Thanks for getting in touch with us about your recent experience. I'm really sorry this led to your complaint on xx December 2022. In your email you explained that you'd contacted us with regards to the outstanding amount but were told that the final amount above the £100 had been cancelled. This has led to your number moving from Pay Monthly (PAYM) to Pay As You Go (PAYG), and then disconnected. I looked into this and found the notes confirm you contacted us at the time, but the next day the payment arrangement was cancelled and a new one was never put in place. During the three years, there was no more contact from yourself with regards to this issue and therefore was a disconnection and an Early Termination Fee (ETF) applied to the debt and subsequently sent to a Debt Collection Agency (DCA). In response to this, usually we'd ask you to contact the DCA and pay via them. However, I feel that this has been unfair, as there was no other payment arrangement given to you. As such I've raised a request in order to get this balance cleared as I understand that this wasn't your fault. In order to resolve this, I'd ask you to take out a new connection and then fill in a "Keep my Number" so the number you previously had with us can be used again. I do really apologise for the way in which this has been handled." Seems great, if delayed, right? From a balance approaching £1k to zero. However, I grew more concerned as I didn't receive a final confirmation, despite chasing. Finally, in February I received another update, that they've done a U-Turn and cancelled the cancellation! "To recap, you were previously offered £150 goodwill credit due to the payment plan being set-up incorrectly on your account. We can see that you have requested for the overdue amount to be cleared, and your credit file amended, as it is currently showing negative marks from Vodafone. I reviewed your complaint today, and I completed a thorough investigation into what was discussed with the previous case handler, Alex. When we reverse a write-off amount unfortunately, this doesn't bring the balance to £0 and I'm sorry you were advised of this. The overdue amount is from when you went over your mobile data in 2019, and these charges are valid. I understand that the payment plan wasn't set-up correctly but unfortunately, we didn't receive any correspondence from yourself. As per Ofcom guidelines, customers are required to check their bills every three months. Due to this, the overdue amount is still a valid charge and we're unable to waiver this amount for your complaint. If you choose to accept the £150 goodwill credit, this will be deducted from the overdue balance. The overdue balance on the account is £xxxx, if you choose to accept the £150 goodwill credit, the overdue amount will reduce to xxxx If you choose not to accept our offer, you can escalate your complaint to the relevant Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme if you wish (CISAS)." I've replied expressing my dismay at this. How can having an excess data charge (before the incorrect termination) lead to them the redress. Terminating the contract meant I lost all use of data for almost the entire contract! They could have cancelled the whole balance except the data charge, but didn't even do that (it was more than the £150 they're offering). At worst I intend to challenge the data charge as a separate issue, although I think it should also be waived and I've let them know I will be escalating to CISIS. I'm glad the previous responder admitted their fault in writing.

Hi, I spoke to them on the phone, because they insisted. Negotiation went something like this: Vodafone: We'll give you £20 Me: No, you unfairly cancelled my contract and your own notes show it. I want 12 x the monthly contract payment waived. V: Yes, we reneged on the payment plan, and terminated your contract, but you should just have paid the whole balance as soon as we reneged [even though my agreed payment wasn't yet due] Me: Er...no. Also your notes show you were terminating the contract even before the phone call. V: Ok we'll think about waiving what you asked for. [2 day wait for response to this] V: Ok, we'll give you £100 but not the amount you asked for because you still had the phone. Me: No that's far too low. V: ok how about £150? If you don't accept we will take further action. A slimey response to any complaint. If their mistake is worth £150 to me, why only offer £20 initially. Straight up dishonest. Even with that. I want far more than £150 and will escalate to OFCOM if needed. I doubt, given they did nothing for 3 years, that there will be any further action and have told them they'll lose in court. I recorded all of these conversations and I think this kind of lowballing is worth a complaint in itself.

As a final update on this, the Council contacted me and apologised once I'd provided the payslips showing the deductions. They advised they would simply chase my former employer going forward and that the DCA idiots would no longer contact me. Oddly enough, a week later my former boss belatedly replied to me kindly advising that they would liaise with the Council to sort. How generous of him, after I'd already had to prove it was their problem. Either way, resolved.

Back in late 2018 I took out a two year contract with Vodafone for a new smartphone plus calls, data etc. In late 2019, due to an error after moving house and connecting my pc to run off my phones internet and not my broadband (yes really) I ran up a bill of several hundred pounds. I called Vodafone, paid £100 and agreed to pay the remainder in November. However, less than two weeks later they cancelled my contract for non payment and when I called to complain, and advise I had set up a payment plan and paid a large chunk already, they denied all knowledge and said I'd be forced over to PAYG and would immediately owe the full contract balance, plus the remaining excess data charge from my mishap. Despairing of this, and numerous other customer service issues with them, I gave up and have simply used a PAYG sim with phones bought outright ever since. I had a couple of letters from DCAs regarding the o/s balance (now approaching £1k) but ignored them. I wanted to resolve it last year and put in a SAR, but never heard anything back. Now almost 3 years after initial dispute I looked into it again and submitted another SAR request. My luck is in as I actually got a response. It shows they refused my SAR last year due to 'incorrect details' and claims they tried to contact me. More importantly it gives account notes (partially redacted by me): "[October 2019] Customer made a part payment of £100 Payment confirmation number: xx and set up a tokenised payment arrangement for the amount of £xx which will be paid on November 10th. [Slightly later in October 2019] What was the customer's issue? customer called as he has been restricted when he paid £100 and set up an arrangement on the xx Actions taken by you. I advised no arrangement has been setup the account has now been put on PAYG and we require the whole balance." This proves they abandoned the agreed payment plan (presumably due to poor internal comms). They even terminated the account before the agreed payment for the excess data was even due. Not only has this damaged my credit file, but I now owe the full contract, even though I was denied the services of it and was also expected to PAYG for a phone I can actually use. I will of course be complaining about this to Vodafone. Does anyone else have a similar experience? Is there an industry body I can also complain to? The SAR was marked as partially redacted and, barring initial DCA contact, the total lack of any chasing for the balance suggests to me they know they're in the wrong.

A new text from Jacobs this morning "You have 1 final chance to contact us about your debt. Failure to do so will lead to a Debt Collector visiting your property. Call us immediately on..." Cheeky . Not only is the implication of 'final warning or we come and harass you in person' stupidly aggressive it's also untrue. I'll look which body I am complain to about them whilst continuing to ignore them.

That is what I'd expect tbh and what I've said to the Council. I had numerous issues whilst I was a student at Oxford due their incompetence. In fact much of the Council's work is outsourced to the infamous C(r)apita. I've sent the payslips showing the DEA deductions; confirmed my address and contact details (just to ensure they send any escalation comms to the right place); told them I've contacted my employer, but also that they should do it themselves; and finally that I will not be contacting Jacobs.

Thanks for the advice. How come you say no point in a 'prove it' here, but recommend it elsewhere. Is that because benefit isn't a form of credit? I am worried that the Council will try another DEA instead, though. Always embarrassing. Should I not at least send them the payslips? Even if this is just posturing to 'shake the tree'. I don't want to risk anything further.

I pointed out in my initial response that they had taken forever (twice!) to contact me/escalate the debt and mentioned statute of limitations. That's why he went into depth about how it's within the limit. Jacobs have only cited the original amount. The text was very short and sparse on detail (exactly as quoted in original post). Usually I'd send the usual 'prove it' response, but no need since I already paid it. I will inform them the DEA was paid (at least by me) to get them off my back. I can't tell if they're acting as DCA or as bailiffs, but the latter would be very disproportionate to the claimed debt.

Thanks. I have pdfs on my payslips showing the deductions (which naturally add up to exactly the o/s debt). Can I simply send these to the Council and/or Jacobs and say "not my problem"? Am I right to think the liability is then with my employer? Seems amazing to me that even a DEA can apparently go wrong. Secondly, do I have any recourse for the ridiculous delays, and lack of contact, by the Council?

This is a long tale of Council incompetence and will raise some legal questions. I'm grateful for any help. I apparently had a Housing Benefit overpayment from Oxford County Council 7 years ago (2015). I was not informed of this at the time, but 5 years after the debt was incurred, and several years after I'd moved away they sent one letter to my new address which I didn't open in time and then immediately applied for an Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA). They didn't try and use the correct email address or phone number they had on file to resolve it earlier. Despite my protestations after I had an embarrassing meeting with my boss (who'd received a letter requesting the DEA), and asked the Council for a payment plan, but they wouldn't budge and took the debt in full in two instalments in Feb and March 2020. My payslips confirm the full amount was taken. I believe the debt was legitimate. Now 2.5 years later (and more than 7 years after the initial debt was incurred) I have an 8Am text from Jacobs DCA saying: "We are instructed by Oxford CC to pursue you for non payment of Housing Benefit....balance is £xxxx...Contact our office immediately on....Jacobs" Upon firing off an irate email to Oxford CC I'm advised this is correct and the debt is indeed outstanding: "Our records show that we did request an attachment of earnings in January 2020. In June 2020 it was found that no monies had been received in regard to that attachment. After a check was made on our bank account and time given in case of late payment from your employer the debt was passed over for enforcement in November 2020. There was then quite a delay in it being forwarded to Jacobs because of a tendering process regarding agencies we used. You will need to contact Jacobs as to payments to be made to this debt – which remain s payable in full. If your employer made deductions from your earnings then you will need to contact them for full details of what they did with the proceeds. We had sent them comprehensive instructions as to payments – including a reference that had to accompany such payments. If they now maintain they did send money to Oxford City Council we would need to know what they paid, when and what reference accompanied the payment. If a payment was made for multiple accounts we would need a full scheduled breakdown for each payment. Please be aware that the 6 year rule regarding debt refers to the last date of contact. Therefore the attachment of earnings in January 2020 would mean that we had till January 2026 to contact you again to keep the debt alive (recoverable). My Correspondence today extends that deadline to, at least, July 2028. Any payments made or correspondence from you, Jacobs or us will further extend the deadline to keep this debt recoverable." My questions are this: 1. Since I can prove the DEA came out of my wages. Surely only my former employer is liable, if they didn't pass it on? I think it is very unlikely it wasn't passed on and thought DEAs were meant to be watertight. 2. I know the statute of limitations resets when payments are made, but doesn't it also take into account how reasonable any delays in communication/enforcement from the creditor are? Waiting 5 years to pursue the debt at all, going straight to a DEA and then waiting a further 2.5 years seems ridiculous to me. Once again they didn't try to contact me by email or phone, despite having that info and this time they didn't even send any letters. However, they did manage to give my phone number to Jacobs. I have emailed my former employer, an FCA regulated finance firm who I remain on good terms with, for assistance but haven't yet had a response.

Apologies for mis-speaking (typing) but I should have written FOS complaint. I can see many people have had success removing defaults from their credit files (and in many cases getting further redress) as a result of an FOS ruling. Each of my PDL creditors has at least a hundred FOS rulings, most of them against the PDL and involving removal of (uniformly negative) credit file activity. Given my file was riddled with payment arrangements (often with people who gave me successive or simultaneous loans!), defaults and constant PDL activity, I think I have a good position.

In 2018 I was in a serious mess, financially. Over the course of the year I had loans from Uncle Buck, WagedayAdvance, Lending Stream, Wonga, Myjar and others. Not only that, but I had been in serious default on a student overdraft for 3+ years and defaulted on my Vanquis card. Most of the loans I took out were repaid, but I defaulted on everything in December (usual reasons) and never paid most of those back. I'm now in a much better financial position, but still have no intention to pay unless forced to and only one of my 9+ creditors has ever issued a LoC (I agreed to repay that one).Total debt including £1.k overdraft is about £3k and of the balances are under £300. The only one that is almost repaid is the Uncle Buck, which got sent to multiple DCAs and I have almost fully paid off from TM Legal, the final DCA (I have one instalment remaining). Uncle Buck and a couple of the others have admitted they made mistakes lending to me and applied some level of voluntary redress. What I want to know is if I complain directly or to the FCA, do I have a good chance to remove the defaults from my credit file, either with or without paying some or all of the balance back? They should never have lent to me in the first place due to my history and the fact I had payment arrangements with PDLs constantly due to missing those that were agreed. Does the fact that several of these firms are in administration change my chances or the procedure (beyond emailing the administrators rather than defunct PDL)? Secondly, several of these firms have refused to uphold my complaints, but am I correct to think they may be dishonest (surely not dishonest DCAs/PDLs?!) and that complaining to the FCA is likely to have more success?

I understand, but given there is a potential time limit I was eager to prevent a backdoor CCJ. I had moved recently and forgotten to update them. I have ensured everyone else has the right address. How should I proceed with TM Legal? The LoC they have apparently posted has still not arrived.

Interesting one. I contacted them as I had not received LoC. They had sent it to previous address. I updated address when I contacted them approx. one week ago ( v hard to get through on phone and they ignored emails) and they confirmed they would be re-sending it to correct address. However, there's been some dodgy behaviour from then as: 1. They initially said over phone that by calling them I was in fact "responding to LoC". I asserted that I was not and could respond to something I hadn't read. They eventually relented and said it wasn't considered a "response" and that 30 day period would be reset as I hadn't received letter. 2. One week later letter still hasn't arrived. Nothing would take this long to come. I have called every day and they can only confirm they "actioned" the request to re-send it and reiterated that 30 day period was reset. 3. Even on call in last 24 hours the guy was saying "why don't you just respond to LoC now over phone". I pointed again, that I can't respond to something I haven't read and this seemed to annoy him. I am worried they're trying to run down the 30 days (there is approx .one week left until initial 30 day period would expire), but then I have recorded these phone conversations where they reluctantly confirm the 30 days has been reset. Is there anything else I can do to protect myself? As soon as I get LoC I will respond as per your suggestions.

No problem, Be as blunt as you like. I thought my complaint would be upheld so when it wasn't in February I didn't do anything else or prepare for an LoC. Bad decision. Post 2 is to send the reply form you've included, correct? As a further bit of info, I work in Finance and am concerned about something like this appearing on an internal credit check. Whilst I believe my complaint should have been upheld, and UB behaved badly, would it not be a wise move to simply pay the £150 balance as it seems to have been discounted heavily? Thanks for your help.